February 18, 2018 - February 19, 2018

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The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s National Renewable Energy Program plays a very vital role in the country’s vision to generate clean energy and has indeed captured the attention of the global solar industry since the beginning of 2018. With 9.5 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity to be achieved by 2023, the next six years will witness major transformation across the kingdom’s power sector. The Renewable Energy Project Development Office (REPDO) recently shortlisted 27 companies for its Solar Projects and 24 companies for its Wind Projects out of more than 120 companies that submitted statements of qualification for Round 1 comprisig of 300 MW solar power projects and 400 MW wind power projects, for which tenders are planned to be awarded in September of 2018.

Saudi Arabia presents a sizable market where up to $50 billion will be invested on renewable energy development projects by 2023. The government has also increased its budget expenditure for 2018 by eight percent, taking it up to $237 billion. Hydrocarbons would remain a prime element in the energy mix in 2023, by an estimation of 60 GW. This will also be supported by nuclear energy with a generation capacity of 17.6 GW, solar at 41 GW, of which 16 GW will be generated through the use of photovoltaic cells and the balance of 25GW by concentrated solar power, wind at 9GW, waste-to-energy at 3GW and geothermal at 1GW.